March 13 US CME Derivatives Market he announced launch of Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts. The exchange, which is fully regulated and has undergone administrative review, will now facilitate cash-settled, daily-expiring contracts tied to bitcoin futures, with “a cheaper way for investors to trade their views on bitcoin price movements up or down. Tim McCourt, global head of equity and FX products at CME Group, said:
Our new Bitcoin futures contracts provide a highly transparent, low-risk way for a wide range of investors to gain access to the Bitcoin market through a fully regulated exchange. These cash-settled, daily-expiring contracts will further complement our existing suite, which has traded over 550,000 contracts to date.
On March 10, Cointelegraph reported that asset manager VanEck’s request for a bitcoin trust was rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The commissioners noted that the SEC has rejected every point bitcoin trust application that has been filed, which has been nearly 20 over the past six years.
A few days ago, digital currency management company Grayscale released a transcript related to its ongoing lawsuit with the SEC over the refusal to transfer its Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to an exchange-traded fund. According to the transcript, Judge Neomi Rao commented:
“Because it seems to me that these things, I mean, you know, one is basically just a derivative of the other. They move together 99.9% of the time. So where’s the gap in the Commission’s view?”
GBTC is currently trading at a 38.19% discount to net asset value, up from an all-time low of 50%. The firm’s litigation with the SEC continues.
